Colombia’s COVID-19 death toll has risen to more than 80,000 on Friday, with intensive care units (ICUs) now almost full of patients in major city hospitals, where massive anti-government protests have been taking place daily in recent weeks. .
Colombian health authorities warned this week that mass mobilizations – triggered in the early stages of a tax reform bill that was quickly withdrawn, and then to address demands for inequality and more police, then from heaps of complaints of police brutality – will prolong the already sweeping third wave of the new coronavirus pandemic.
The mayor of the capital repeated this warning yesterday, emphasizing that on Thursday Bogota recorded the second highest number of infections from SARS-CoV-2 to date and a record number of deaths due to COVID-19.
“I do not know what else to say, what warning to make, what to beg for, please,” Claudia Lopez said in a post on her Twitter account late Thursday night, urging her fellow citizens to abide by so-called social distance.
Yesterday, Ms. Lopez announced that she was infected with the new coronavirus and is being isolated.
Protests erupted and spread across Colombia on April 28, with a record 505 deaths due to COVID-19. The average death toll since then has been around 470 a day and yesterday Friday the official death toll from the pandemic was announced to have reached 80,250 dead.
The pressure exerted on the ICUs of the capital’s hospitals is “worrying”, the government noted the day before yesterday, Thursday, adding that patients will be airlifted to hospitals in other urban centers.
The fullness of ICUs in hospitals for patients with COVID-19 in Bogota is at 94%, according to local authorities. In Medellin and Cali, the ICU occupancy rate has reached 99% and 95% respectively.
Public health experts note that the right of citizens to demonstrate is respected, but at the same time it is dangerous for mass rallies to continue. “We can not continue like this,” said Andrea Ramirez, an epidemiologist at the Universidad de los Andes (Bogota), in an interview with Reuters. “We are now talking about a state of life and death, at the moment if someone gets sick and needs an ICU, he will not find it,” she added.
Cuba: Record 1,277 cases and 7 deaths in 24 hours
The Cuban Ministry of Health announced yesterday Friday that 1,277 cases of SARS-CoV-2 were confirmed in the previous 24 hours, the highest number since the outbreak of the new coronavirus pandemic on the island in March 2020, while 7 patients with COVID-19 succumbed. .
The pandemic toll has so far reached 785 deaths out of a total of 121,838 infections.
Havana remains the epicenter of the epidemic, with 657 cases in 24 hours.
Since the middle of the week, the Ministry of Health has been conducting a mass immunization campaign in the capital using the two most advanced candidate vaccines developed domestically.
Brazil: Over 2,200 deaths and over 85,000 cases in 24 hours
The Brazilian Ministry of Health announced yesterday Friday that another 2,211 patients with COVID-19 died in the past 24 hours, while another 85,536 cases of SARS-CoV-2 were confirmed in the laboratory.
The Latin American country of 212 million people officially records the second heaviest pandemic of the new coronavirus on the planet in absolute terms, 432,628 deaths out of a total of 15.5 million and more infections.
Many experts, however, describe the official report as underestimated in relation to reality.
Mexico: More than 220,000 deaths, more than 2.37 million cases
The Mexican Ministry of Health announced yesterday Friday that 258 patients with COVID-19 died in the previous 24 hours, while 2,880 cases of SARS-CoV-2 were confirmed in the laboratory.
According to official figures, the death toll from the new coronavirus pandemic in the country of 126 million has risen to 220,159, with a total of 2,377,995 infections.
But the world’s fourth-worst pandemic death toll – behind those in the United States, Brazil and India – is undoubtedly underestimated. At the end of March, data on excess mortality showed that deaths due to COVID-19 were at least 60% higher than recorded.
Chile: Nearly 7,000 cases and 127 deaths in 24 hours
The Chilean Ministry of Health announced on Friday that 6,903 cases of SARS-CoV-2 had been confirmed in the laboratory in the past 24 hours, while another 127 patients with COVID-19 had died.
The death toll from the new coronavirus pandemic in Latin America has so far reached 27,647 deaths out of a total of 1,273,516 infections.
Chile’s health minister, Enrique Paris, called on his fellow citizens to abide by protection measures at the weekend, during a vote to elect a 155-member Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution to replace the current one. fundamental law – a legacy of the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990) – but also of local officials, especially mayors and governors.
“Self-defense measures, using a mask, washing our hands with soap and water, using hand sanitizer, keeping our distance and, of course, bringing our own blue pen” for the vote, he said. Paris in an announcement.
Although some half of the target population in the immunization campaign has received both doses of its vaccine, Chile remains facing a new wave of pandemics.
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